The State apparently wanted this child vaccinated and sided with the non-custodial parent (who a court ruled at some point unworthy of being the custodial parent for some reason) who happened to agree with their stance. It none of the States business regardless of some expert option (opinions are like asshole...everyone has one).
A parent should be the only opinion that matters here. The woman was upstanding enough for the court to award her primary custody but not upstanding enough to determine if she child should take a shot? Hogwash. This stinks of the state flexing its muscle into an area where it doesn't belong.

Mom (court award custody) goes to jail and jr heads to the dads house (court didn't award custody) for a week before being given more custodial rights as a reward? Mom get slapped while dad gets a pat on the head.

Please

"How the state factors in as a decision maker with the noncustodial parent is appalling. "
They say the mother was the primary custodial parent, making me think the father was the secondary. So at first blush I think the court is right to take his opinion into account, possibly siding with mainstream expert opinion to be the tie breaker. But then I think about how with other legal documents, such as PoA for healthcare, there can only be one person. There is one person who gets the power 100% and it goes 100% to another person if and only if the first person abnegates. I remember an attorney saying on some business documents that by listing two decision makers you're pre-building a conflict into the document. OTOH, that's the nature of divorced parents, so maybe the law is right to weigh the primary and secondary and have the court be the tie-breaker. There's no good way to handle, and I don't know the least bad way to handle it.

True, but the custodial parents decision should be final. How the state factors in as a decision maker with the noncustodial parent is appalling. Worse still, the noncustodial parent is rewarded by the state with more custody than he was originally awarded and mom gets punished for objecting with jail.

" the parents should make the ultimate decision over the well being of their child. "
It sounds like in this case the parents' decisions were in conflict. Either way one parent's decision would be overridden.

Best to avoid any "Imperial entanglements."
More true than ever today.